Captive
by HollyandMisltoe
Summary: After the first battle, Matt tells Jamie he was once a prisoner of the Old Ones. What happened in his captivity? Why was he kept alive? How did he escape? Here is my answer... read and review please :
1. waking

The first thing that woke Matt up was his continuous shivering

**HEY ALL! So, this is my first PO5 story. With the new book coming out at the end of the month, I was rereading Nightrise and remembered Matt (past) telling Jamie that he had been the OLD Ones prisoner for a year. That got me thinking "Why on earth is he still alive then?" Well, this is my theory. Hope you like it. Leave me a review….please?!**

The first thing that woke Matt up was his continuous shivering. It was absolutely freezing in there, wherever 'there' was. He could feel the cold beating down on his bare chest where his shirt had been ripped open.

The next thing he realized was the pain. Oh, it hurt so badly! Every time he breathed his chest and sides would scream in discomfort and his neck burned and ached. What could he have possibly done to get in this much pain?

His dark eyes suddenly shot open. He remembered. He saw himself as if through another's eyes, walking towards the edge of the forest near the City of Canals. There he would find the forgotten temple where Flint and Sapling would be arriving through. He was stupidly alone with only his sword and his power, but that would not be enough.

Somehow the Old Ones knew about the twin's arrival and went to intercept the three from meeting. Luckily, it seemed the twin's were running late, so they could only grab Matt before half an army of human guards arrived.

He had put up a fight but was easily overcome by the fifty or so servants of the King. By the end, Matt was hanging ten feet in the air, a man-scorpion's claw around his neck. He was about to suffocate, his lungs screaming for oxygen, when he saw the massive stinger rise up and hover and inch from his face. One drop of its poison was all it took to knock the boy unconscious. He remembered nothing after that, for all there was was darkness.

He suddenly shot up from where he was lying, making his head pound and go dizzy. Once the world stopped spinning, he took in his surroundings.

He was in a dark cell with no candles or torches of any kind to lend him light. The only way he could see that bare features of the cell was with the weak light shinning through the small window placed high on one of the walls. The bars that criss-crossed it were too small for Matt to even fit his hand through.

The door on the opposite wall was strong and solid metal. Again, there was a window on it with bars that were far too small.

Matt pushed himself off the metal shelf he had been lying on and limped across the length of the cell, which only took four or five strides. Everything in the room, which was only a hard looking chair and a table with a pitcher of gray looking water on it, looked like it had been made out of the same material as the floor. They would not budge, no matter how hard Matt pushed on them.

_Fantastic! _He thought sourly as he sat back down on the shelf and rubbed his aching head. How had he allowed himself to get into this mess? He was supposed to be the leader of the five. He was supposed to be the wise one, the one that would one day win this war along with the other four children.

But what really puzzled Matt was the fact that he was still alive. If he was in fact a prisoner of the Old Ones, which he was sure about, wouldn't they have killed him right away in order to ensure the five would never meet? In their eyes, if one was dead then the circle could not be complete and the remaining four will not be powerful enough to defeat them. So why keep their captive alive? Unless for another reason.

Matt jerked his head up as he heard footsteps approaching his cell. He counted three pairs of feet, one pair belonging to a taller man and the others to shorter. Matt stood up slowly and took on a defensive stance, even though he knew he barely had the strength to throw a punch.

Then the door burst open and the three figures came inside.

The light from the torch one of them carried blinded Matt for a second, and he was forced to look away until his eyes adjusted. When finally he could handle the glare of the flames, he turned back to his captors, a snarl on his lips.

The one in front, who was the tallest and obviously the one in charge, looked human enough, but Matt knew better then to assume such a thing. The guards behind him were in the form of humans as well, though Matt could hear the faint buzzing of thousands of tiny pairs of wings.

The being in front stepped forward, a smile on his thin lips. "Good." It said poisonously. "You're awake. We thought you might have been dead."

With a nod from the leader, one of the guards came forward, a rope in his hands. Matt noticed the long sword hanging form its belt, bumping against its leg as it walked. If only he could get the sword, maybe, with a lot of luck on his side, he would be able to make it out of there alive. Not to be cocky, but no one could rival him in a sword fight.

In his minds eyes, he saw the white cloud of his consciousness extend forward and wrap around the hilt of the sword. Sure that he had a solid hold on the blade, he began to pull it from the sheath.

The sword made it about an inch or so out of the sheath before the leader noticed what was happening, but it go not further. Suddenly the leader's arm, which had turned into the claw of a scorpion, flew through the air and grabbed Matt by the neck. The boy stifled a cry as the ridges of the claw settled on his pervious bruises.

He instantly dropped his hold on the sword, the white cloud disappearing, as his entire being concentrated on trying to breath or wiggle free. The razor grip of the claw tightened around his neck as he struggled so not a gasp of air could reach his lungs. His throat seared and the bruises from his earlier fight screamed to be released. Black dots appeared on his vision. His lungs cried for oxygen. Surely he would pass out soon, or die.

Finally the claw released its hold and Matt fell to his knees from exhaustion. His neck and head were throbbing and his knees smarted as they hit the floor. The guard came forward again and pulled Matt's arms behind his back to tie his wrists. Matt tried to elbow the guard in the face, but his arm sank through its nose as thousands of flies that had made up its head scattered.

The guard shoved Matt's arm out of its nose and tied it tightly to the other as its face returned. The leader had a snarl across its lips. "I suggest you end your useless attempts, human. Much pain awaits you but we won't resist causing you more."

Matt didn't doubt that. All they had ever done to him, since before he knew about the five, was cause him pain. Now that he is one of the few people who could bring them down and is in their captivity, pain was all he was going to get. Hating to admit it, he was scared.

The guard pulled him back to his feet, where, to his disgust, he tripped and nearly fell back down. With a brutal shove, the guard marched him forward to the door. As he passed the leader, Matt spat at its feet. Again the hand came out as if from nowhere and punched Matt across the face so hard he thought he could feel his brain rattle around. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.

The man-scorpion was talking again. "You humans have no sense of respect to your superiors. But I'm sure the king will be able to straighten you out. I think we'll go find him now."

Dread filled Matt's heart. They were going to see Chaos. Matt's pervious question was answered then. The reason he was still alive was so Chaos could kill him himself. And Matt was sure the evil king would drag it out as long as possible.

**So there's the first chapter. What'dga think? Leave me a note. It's really not as hard as it looks. Just press the little button at the bottom of the screen. You'll feel good about yourself afterwards, trust me!**

**Till next time….**


	2. Chaos

The dark hallways turned and curved in a long, confusing maze

**Hey all!! Sorry about being so late in getting this chapter up, but school, life, and a broken arm can really weigh you down. But never fear, here is chapter 2, entitled Chaos! Read! Enjoy! Review! **

The dark hallways turned and curved in a long, confusing maze. Matt's legs burned from his forced march and he had lost circulation in this fingers. After a while he stopped trying to remember the turns they made, his throbbing head making it impossible to think.

They passed many doors along the hall, all resembling the door to Matt's cell, but he had a feeling he was the only living prisoner. Suddenly the doors changed from solid looking metal with locks and bars to casual wooden ones. Then they reached a grand looking pair of double doors guarded by two fire starters.

The leader in front of him stopped abruptly and the fly guards jerked Mat back so as not to run into him. Matt stumbled and would have fallen if the guards had not been there to catch him.

The two fire starters nodded once to the leader and simultaneously reached out and opened the double doors. A freezing draft of air rushed out and Matt began shivering. The leader looked at him and a vicious smile crossed his lips.

Matt was then thrown into the room where he stumbled, tripping over his own bare feet. The cold stone floor came rushing up to meet him and he was painfully aware that his hands could not break his fall when tied behind his back. Quickly, he twisted around to save his face from smashing into the floor and instead landed heavily on his side, crushing his shoulder. A groan somehow escaped his lips.

A cold, harsh laugh filled the room, a sound more terrifying then any Matt had ever heard. The short black hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. A pair of hands grabbed his upper arms and roughly pulled him from the floor but left him kneeling, his knees smarting against the hard stone.

It was then that he noticed the dark figure in the room that seemed to have been born from the shadows. Matt felt the blood drain from his face as he realized he was looking at Chaos. He had never before seen the king of the Old Ones and had never heard a description of him. He supposed that was because no living soul had ever seen Chaos and lived to tell the tale.

Chaos resembled a man, tall and towering who took up most of the large room, but he had no features. He was just a dark, black, smoky figure that seemed to grow larger as he bore down on the bound teenager. The guards kept their hands on Matt's shoulders and because of that Matt refused to flinch away or shudder in fear. He was terrified, yes, but that didn't mean he had to show it.

As Chaos began to speak Matt could not help but repress a small shiver. The words felt like icy acid washing over him. It took a minute for him to comprehend what the monster was saying.

"Oh, what is this?" The king said triumphantly. "The great Matt, leader of The Five, kneeling before me in chains?"

With a flick of his dark wrist, the doors slammed shut with a thundering boom and the guards hold Matt down backed away. They wouldn't be needed for a while; Matt didn't have the strength to go anywhere.

"You are a marvelous actor, Matt." Chaos said. "But I can taste your fear. I can feel it burning through every fiber of your being. It's not healthy to hold that in, Matt. Just let it out. Let us see the distress you feel."

When Matt did nothing but glare at him, Chaos continued. "I'm sure you believed you could defeat us. That The Five, with their so called _special _abilities, could vanquish us Old Ones. Well, I'm sure now you can see that your defeat is inevitable. And of course you have come to the conclusion that you will not escape with your life."

Fast as a snake, Chaos was at Matt's side, bending down to whisper in his ear. "But perhaps we could strike a deal, human." It took all Matt's self control to not flick away from the closeness of his enemy. "I will let you keep your life in return for something from you. It would be a terrible, miserable life, but still, you will be alive. All you must do is tell me the names of the other four children, three boys and one girl, and where they can be found. I know you know them, Matt, and where they are."

The king stood up and glared down at the boy. "So what say you?" He asked. "It is only four names, not much to ask for such a high reward."

Matt didn't need time to think about it. His life or the life of four people, children his age who would never see their adult years. His answer came to him before Chaos had even stopped speaking, and now that he had Matt loosed his tongue and growled "No!"

"No?" Chaos asked with surprise.

"Absolutely not." Matt spat out. "I would rather die before giving you any kind of advantage. The other four's identity stays with me, not to be gambled away for my own sake."

The room was silent as Chaos observed the defendant thirteen year old. Matt stared straight ahead, fearing what would happen next. He could feel the king's anger and frustration filling the room and a part of him wanted to smile at being the cause of it. But the rest of him knew that it could only end badly for him.

"Well," Chaos said slowly. "If that is our final answer- "

Suddenly Matt was thrown backwards by and invisible force, making him crash into the stone wall behind him. The air was knocked out of his lungs and spots of light danced in front of his dazed eyes. He tried to breath but no air came to him. His eyes slid out of focus.

Then he could see the dark consciousness of Chaos holding his against the wall. I was like a smoky cloud and Matt could even imagine the smell of ash.

"If you will not willingly give me the information, I will be forced to take it from you. And then, Matt, you will die. For you will be no use for me afterwards and you were right, I would not have let you live even if you had cooperated."

Matt tried to push himself off the wall but Chaos' hold was too strong. His minds eye saw another branch of dark cloud snake forward from Chaos' mind. Then he knew how Chaos would take the information. He would force his way into Matt's mind and learn everything. Not just the identity of the other four, but the secrets of the human rebellion, the location of the City of Canals, and everything Matt had sworn to protect. He could not allow that monster into his mind.

He searched for any hidden strength inside himself and threw up a white shield around his mind. The dark cloud made contact with it and began battering its walls, trying to knock it aside. Matt tried to hold the shield strong, but the force of Chaos' mind and his strength behind it was too much for the boy. The white wall began to disintegrate. It turned from a strong, solid white mass to a wavering silver mist.

Then Matt began to see images of what Chaos was searching for as the king entered a layer of his mind. Inti swam before his eyes on top of the silver mist. The twins, Sapling and Flint, joined him and were fallowed by a girl he knew was Scar, even though he had never met her, even in his dreams.

Seeing their faces, a new wave of strength welled up inside him. He _would not _betray them. He _could not! _

The strength was added to the falling wall, which immediately sucked it in and fortified itself. The shield became a strong white wall again and Chaos was forced to retreat out of Matt's mind.

Matt pushed and pushed his wall forward, causing the dark cloud to grow smaller. Even the force that was holding him against the wall vanished and Matt felt his feet slam onto the ground. But he could not let his distract him. Every fiber of his being was focused on the battle at hand.

Feeling the reserves of his strength begin to empty he sent out one final punch, using all might to drive it at the King. Like the white wing of a diving hawk, the wall flew forward, breaking Chaos' cloud and causing the king to stumble away from the power of it. The dark cloud completely vanished.

Matt let his eyes focus again and saw the room as it had really been that whole time, empty but of himself, Chaos, the two fly guards, and the Scorpion-man. The guards look worried and confused as to what to do during the invisible fight.

Chaos was holding himself up against a grand chair that was his thrown and Matt supported himself against the wall. The fly guards, sensing the end of the battle, jumped forward and pinned Matt against the wall. Scorpion-man hurried towards his king but Chaos only pushed him off and pointed savagely at Matt.

"Take _that _back to its cell." He spat. "Then in the morning bring him to Shayna. We're going to get those names whether he wants to give them or not!"

The next thing Matt knew, he was being shoved out of the room. Exhaustion swept over him like a dark cloud and his legs gave out on him. The guards caught him beneath the arm pits and tried to put him back on his feet. But his feet wouldn't hold him up. He collapsed again and this time blackness covered his eyes till he could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing. In a few hours he would wake up back in his cell with no memory of the returning trip.

**So that's chapter two. Just as a warning, this is kinda gonna be a dark story, incase you haven't figured that out yet. Anyway, thanks for reading and remember…..reviews make the microwave go **_**ding!**_

**Till next time then….**


	3. Fish out of Water

**Hey everyone. I'm sorry for taking so long to update. My computer crashed TWICE(!) since I last updated, so I had to rewrite this chapter three times and shorten is quite a lot in order to get it up sooner. It's not as good as the first draft, of course, but I hope it will do. Tell me what you think!**

The steel gray waves pounded relentlessly against the slick rocks at Matt's feet. A strong wind ruffled his torn clothes and short hair, but he felt neither its cold nor heat. Piercing blue eyes gazed longingly at the opposite shore where a dark skinned boy and a girl with long black hair sat. How he longed to be with them, talking with such ease and walking freely. But he knew he couldn't. He was trapped.

He looked down at the bank below and saw a little straw boat, bobbing up and down in the waves. Then he noticed the two boys, perfectly identical in every way, climbing up the steep trail. Once they noticed him, the closer of the two called out his name and raised a hand in greeting.

Matt did not go forward to meet them or call out in return. He stood where he was, legs aching, until they reached him, both out of breath.

"Sapling. Flint." He said, nodding to each one with the correct name. Then, without a further word, he plopped down and sat cross legged on the ground. His legs were no longer able to hold him up. The twins fallowed suit and after a moment Sapling asked, "What happened Matt? We missed you at the temple last week."

"Last week?" Matt frowned. Had he really been asleep for that long?

Flint nodded. "We saw a ton of blood just outside the forest. Were you attacked?"

"Yes." Matt said distantly. "Somehow the old ones found out about us meeting and—intercepted me."

Sapling stared at him, mouth slightly open, and Flint just shook his head. "And you're still alive?" He asked in amazement.

"Well, I'm not much use to them dead at the moment, am I? But I'm sure they won't wait too long; Chaos seemed murderous when I saw him, more then usual at least."

"I am so sorry." Sapling whispered slowly. "If we had been just five minutes—"

"Forget about it." Matt interrupted, not wanting the twins to blame themselves. "What happened happened. There's nothing we can do about it now, anyway."

"Of course there's something!" Said Sapling, standing up as if he were going to go get Matt right at that very moment. "Come on! Tell us what we can do."

But Matt just shook his head, a grim look on his face. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Flint gaped at him, shocked by his response. "What do you mean 'Nothing'? Matt, we're not just going to leave you-

"That's exactly what you're going to do." Matt said harshly. "Under no circumstances are you to come after me. It's exactly what they want, to get all five of us. I'm just the bait."

"And I'm sure they literally have you strung up on a hook." Sapling snapped. The sky, which was always grey in the dream world, turned an even darker shade as both the twins glared at Matt. The blue eyed boy didn't expect them to understand, but he hoped they would listen. Four against the Old Ones had much better odds then two, or none. But, of course, they didn't agree at all.

"Listen, I'll find my own way out of this. That's what I'm good at." He smiled suddenly as he remembered why he chose his symbol: the fish. "But we can't afford to get you two caught. Just—stay safe. Where are you now, anyway?"

"The City of Canals." Flint said, a blank look on his face. "We assumed that was where head quarters were. Everyone's fine, but their moral took a nose dive when you didn't return with us."

Matt bit his bottom lip as he thought hard. How was he going to fix this one?

"Okay," He said slowly, as if still trying to make up his mind. "I want you to go find Lismack, he's the captain of the army, I'm sure you've already met him." The twins nodded, remembering the young, cunning man with early graying black hair and dark eyes they had met the day they arrived. "Go find him," Matt continued, "and tell him I've talked to you and that I'm fine. If he asks questions, answer them honestly, but he probably won't so there's no need to share the entire story. He will come up with what we will tell the people."

"Wait, we're not going to tell them the truth?" Sapling frowned.

"No. Not the whole truth, at any rate. You think their moral's low now, try telling them their leader is being held captive and tortured by the Old Ones." He paused for a moment, wishing he had not said that. The twins' faces looked worried and scared, and Matt was afraid they were going to start insisting on coming after him again. "And, please, promise me you won't come after me." He pleaded.

The twins hesitated, but when Matt raised one of his eyebrows they knew there would be no arguing this time.

After they swore to stay with the army and away from immediate danger, Matt said "Okay, now, go find Lismack. And perhaps, if we are lucky, we will talk here again. But now is the time for you two to go."

"Right then." Flint pushed himself off the ground and turned to his brother. "Slap me."

"What?!" Sapling stared at him, taken aback.

"Slap me so I will wake up and then I can wake you up." He sounded exasperated, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, right, okay." And Sapling smacked his brother hard across the cheek with the back of his hand. The moment he made contact with Flint's skin, the boy disappeared, leaving only Matt and Sapling on the gray beach.

"Well, that felt good." Sapling said absentmindedly as Matt stood up slowly, legs screaming for him to sit back down. Sapling lowered his hand and stared hard at Matt. "You will be okay, won't you?"

Matt placed his hand on Sapling's shoulder as a response and the corners of Sapling's mouth twitched. "I guess that's my alarm call, then."

Matt nodded. "Stay safe." Were his last words before Sapling, too, disappeared to join Flint.

Suddenly and all too soon, Matt found himself alone again on the beach. The straw boat was no longer tied to a rock on the shore, but off in the distance as the shadowed figures of the twins rowed off towards the others.

That was when Matt noticed the water. It was churning, as if caught in the middle of a hurricane. The water had receded a fair amount of feet from where it should have been, leaving behind pieces of coral and sea life. Nearby, a fish was stuck on the sand, flopping and twisting desperately to get free, but the sand held it captive, and as slippery as it was it could not escape into the water. A shiver of unease ran down Matt's spine at the sight of it, but he couldn't explain why.

Then suddenly he felt a shadow cross over his face and he looked up to see a wall of gray ocean water rising up to block away the sun. Matt instinctively raised a hand to block his face as the wave can crashing down, landing right on top of him and crashing him into the ground.

Matt woke suddenly, coughing and spitting up water that was very real. It soaked through his ripped shirt and clung to his body, making the cold even more unbearable. After wiping the stream away from his eyes, he glared up at the figure towering over him. He recognized the outline of the shape-shifter holding a now empty bucket and the fly-guards behind him.

The Shape-shifter laughed coldly as Matt choked on the water and then signaled for the guards to grab hold of the boy. He tried to fight, but he was still too weak and his legs continued to resist holding him up. The Changer laughed again as Matt nearly collapsed. "Stop playing around, boy. Now's when the real fun begins."

TBC

**Dun Dun Dun!! Yes, now the fun begins! The next chapter will be very dark and emo (and this time I'll get it up within the same year, I promise.)**

**Also, I wasn't really sure how Anthony Horowitz's dream world worked, his always seems a lot more spontaneous and really, really weird. But it will have a pretty big role in the story, so my dream world will just have to do, I guess. **

**So, it would be oh so kind of you to leave me a review on your way out! Just click the little button in the middle of the screen, I promise it won't bite!**

**Till next time…**


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